


till tonight do us part

by chaosy



Series: tumblr fics [10]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 14:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2231994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosy/pseuds/chaosy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>draedem sent: idk if you're taking prompts but my friend and i have been craving draeden high school au ft. dorky derek and cheerleader braeden? :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	till tonight do us part

**Author's Note:**

> god bless this prompt. this is probably my favourite prompt ever. god i love high school AUs. high school (or secondary school as we've got over here) is in reality a complete hellhole.   
> tumblr: martinisms.tumblr.com

Derek really hates high school clichés. Mostly because he is one.

It’s not just the aptitude for physics or the fondness of Star Wars. He’s got the glasses, the mom-made sweaters, the hair that sticks up all over the place and what Laura calls his Dumbo ears.

(“Fuck off, Laura, they’re not that bad.” “Oh yes they are, little bro.”)

Things get so much worse when he starts tutoring the captain of the cheerleading squad.

 

Braeden is kind of famous in school. Not just because she’s supremely beautiful and can do a double somersault in mid-air, either, although that’s a big part of it. She has this aura of mystery, of flirtatiousness and it leaves the boys (and quite a few of the girls) falling over themselves to get a moment of her time.

Derek is embarrassed to say that he’s one of them.

He can’t help it, okay? She’s beautiful and sharp and funny and she makes hilarious comments in chemistry class. She’s spoken exactly two hundred words to him over the course of two years and Derek cherishes every single one.

Laura says that he’s a fucking creep and  _just ask the girl out already, you moron_.

Derek would except she’s captain of the cheerleading squad and therefore so far out of his league that they might as well be on different planets. _  
_

He’s perfectly happy admiring her from afar when Mr. Davies says that he’s to tutor her for an hour a week in physics.

"But why?" Derek can’t help but ask, as he wipes down the board. He’s not trying to suck up, or anything. Mr. Davies is just an awesome dude. It’s nicer to talk to him than sit alone at break.

Mr. Davies shrugs. “She asked for the tutoring. Says she’s having trouble. Her grades are fine, but I think it’s a confidence thing. You’ll be really helping her out, Derek,” he tells him, and Derek sighs, nods.

He’s not actually sure how he’s going to survive this one

—

Braeden turns up for their first tutoring session in a pretty white shirt spattered with roses and the tightest jeans Derek has ever seen, and impressively high heels.

She looks  _good_ , how the hell is he supposed to concentrate on Gauss’s Law?

The answer is that he doesn’t. He mumbles his way through a few questions on their most recent Electricity and Magnetism paper whilst Braeden smiles serenely at him.

"So, uh, the electric field will be zero, does that make sense?" he finishes on. Braeden gives him another pretty smile. Derek is close to falling out of his fucking chair.

"I think so," she says. God, her voice is like honey.

She turns to the question, writes out her answer and slides it over to him. She’s mostly right, has made two mistakes that aren’t really mistakes, more just stuff that the marks are a bitch to get.

Derek shows her the sample answers, talks her through why they’re right. She looks like she’s concentrating and it’s not like she’s grumpy about getting tutored but every now and then she’ll look at him and smile and Derek can’t tell if she’s being friendly or flirty.

He figures he deserves a medal for getting through the hour. He blushes all the way home.

—

The thing is, he’s not actually sure why Braeden asked for tutoring. No one wants to spend an hour after school each day learning about the voltage drop across R squared or some shit. She’s  _good_. Not a science prodigy but she doesn’t have a lot of trouble, grasps the more difficult concepts well. Derek doesn’t really know what to do with her.

She’s friendly, too. She chatters with him about Newton and Tesla with ease and tells him she likes his Han Solo t-shirt and says that she can never watch The Empire Strikes Back without complaining.

So, okay, maybe Derek is kind of in love.

He has no idea how to talk to her, though. Braeden will initiate a lot and she’ll just smile when Derek flounders over his response. He’s not sure how much more bending over physics papers together with this ridiculously gorgeous girl he can take.

"You know, I always concentrate better at that coffee shop on Main," she says one afternoon, when he’s talking about electrically neutral atoms.

Derek says, “Cool, me too.” That’s how they end up in a cosy booth, still talking about physics, except that it’s a whole lot less like school when there are oak-panelled walls and cinnamon lattes.

Braeden swings her feet absently and blazes her way through the fourth paper he sets her. It’s their seventh week of tutoring and her marks are just as good as his, now.

Derek is a modest guy but the fact that she’s on par with him is  _saying something_.

"I don’t really know what else to teach you," he admits to her, on their ninth week. He doesn’t want these sessions to have an end point but he feels like he’s wasting her time.

Braeden sips delicately at her drink. “What do you mean?” she asks, her eyes sparkling and her smile sweet and Derek is so gone,  _so_ gone.

"I mean, you’re really good. You’re amazing. At physics, I mean," he says, and then realises that sounds kind of rude. "And cheerleading. I see you at games and it’s really impressive."

She practically glows at that, giving him a sunny smile and a murmured thank-you.

Derek deserves a medal. A  _medal_.

"So, uh, I don’t really know what to teach you?" he says. His voice goes high and squeaky at the end. "Not that it’s not fun, tutoring and stuff, but like. Do you really need my help?"

She smiles at him. And then she says, “No, not really.”

Despite his words, Derek feels a little hurt. 

"Oh, no, not like that," Braeden says and she’s laughing, her hand pressing against his wrist. "I mean, I didn’t need your help in the first place. I asked for the tutoring because of the  _tutor_. Not the subject.”

Derek blinks behind his glasses. He takes them off, wipes them, slips them back on again. Nervous tick. “Uh. Really?” he says, staring at her.

If she means what he thinks ( _hopes_ ) she means then he really is going to fall out of his chair.

"Of course!" Braeden exclaims with a smile. "You’re so cute. And you’re the only one in the class who appreciates Davies like he deserves."

"Davies is pretty awesome," Derek concededs, and Braeden nods.

"Mhm. So I thought that we should be friends. And I can’t ask you out if I’ve only said, like, three words to you."

Derek chokes on his drink. “Two hundred words,” he sputters. Braeden tilts her head to the side and looks at him.

"Huh?"

"Two hundred words," Derek repeats automatically, and he flushes beet red.

A smile is curving over Braeden’s features and her eyes are shining like a pair of perfect, perfect stars. “You  _counted_ the words I spoke to you?” she says. 

Derek nods miserably. Braeden looks like she’s going to squeal. She doesn’t. Instead, she presses a kiss to his cheek.

Derek falls off his chair.

—

He doesn’t tutor her next week. Instead, they go out for ice cream at a pretty if not slightly twee parlour. Derek orders mint chocolate chip. Braeden orders raspberry and insists that they share.

The week after that, Derek doesn’t tutor her. Instead, they go for milkshakes and a walk in the park. Braeden links their arms together and kisses his cheek in front of a whole crowd of guys from the football team.

The week after  _that_ there’s a game, so they don’t go on a date. Derek watches as Braeden jumps into the air and does a double somersault, twirls around and holds up signs and gets the whole crowd to scream and applaud so hard it sounds like thunder.

Derek hates football and he cheers the loudest.


End file.
